Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) ensure the safety of British nationals in Iran and (b) provide safe routes for (i) those nationals and (ii) their families to return to the United Kingdom.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice remains under regular review to ensure it reflects our latest assessment of risks to British nationals. The safety of British nationals in each country and territory is the FCDO's overriding concern when determining travel advice. However, the FCDO does not have the jurisdiction to guarantee the safety of British Nationals overseas, which is the responsibility of local authorities.

The FCDO has long been clear that the support we are able to provide in Iran is extremely limited. In an emergency, we will be unable to provide face-to-face assistance for British nationals in difficulty, or to assist with evacuations. We continue to advise against all travel to Iran, where British and British-Iranian dual nationals are at very high risk of arrest, questioning and detention. During the recent conflict between Iran and Israel, the FCDO updated travel advice for Iran to note the temporary withdrawal of UK staff from Iran, the status of Iran's land borders and the closure of Iranian airspace, which re-opened in early July.